Over the Edge
by uhnope
Summary: What started as a friendly visit turned into a nightmare. Because of it, Fluttershy begins to realize her capability and the depth of her insanity. Contains heavy gore. You have been warned. No flames.
1. Chapter 1: Rage

_**Yes**_._** I'm bored in Algebra and suddenly I want to write a gory MLP fic. No real point to this except I wanted to, and I haven't been writing much lately. **_

_**Once again, this is completely pointless. And contains heavy gore. Not for those weak of stomach, and no reviews like "oh you sicko you made me puke!" I just told you this is a very gorey fic, so don't read if you don't think you can handle it. No flames. I just said it was written without reason. **_

_**Disclaimer: *Does not own MLP FiM and its pwnsome ponies.***_

_**Once again: heavy gore ahead. You have been warned.**_

She must have startled her. That's why she had fallen.

A certain pale golden pegasus had decided out of the blue on this fine summer day to pay her fasion-savvy unicorn friend, Rarity, a visit. The forest animals seemed to be busy with their own affairs, not needing her, so she decided to ask if any of her friends needed help with anything.

Fluttershy stepped delicately up to the door of the huge house of the unicorn, and knocked the surface softly, "Rarity?" she murmured into the door. There remained silence on the other end. Since the door was unlocked, Fluttershy bashfully let herself in.

"Rarity?" she murmured, "Are you here?" as she stepped into the room. She had no sense that the room held the prescence of her friend. Fluttershy shrugged, thinking she should come by later, and retired back outside.

Fluttershy sighed, deciding she should see another one of her friends, when she heard something like a tap from above. Stepping back and looking up, Fluttershy gasped softly as she saw a flash of white and purple on the roof. It was Rarity, and what on earth was she doing on her roof? By the looks of it, she was fixing something...or something...

Fluttershy wondered what kind of work would make Rarity get up on her roof? Should she fly up and check? Perhaps. Fluttershy gently unfolded her soft, feathery wings and glided up in a couple of downstrokes, sending a few plush yellow feathers spinning to the ground. She ascended slowly, seeing Rarity balanced on the peak of her roof with her back to her. She appeared to be...painting the shingles with some sort of sparkly paint. Fluttershy wondered why Rarity would be doing this physical labor herself, and with close examination why she was wearing this filmy ice-blue scarf at the same time. Maybe "breaking it in." Fluttershy lighted down behind her, silent as a shadow.

"Um, hello Rarity." she murmured, and maybe a bit too suddenly. She saw Rarity jump, and her hooves scrambled on the roof shingles, obviously not expecting to hear a sudden voice up on the roof with her.

Rarity saw Fluttershy for only a flash before her hooves slipped sideways, sending some unpainted roof shingles raining to the ground below. The unicorn let out a startled shriek as she slid toward the edge of her roof. Fluttershy gasped, reflexively lunging after her, wings flared out for extra balance. She stomped her hooves down with a loud _bang! _on the roof, catching Rarity's scarf under them. She shifted her weight onto her forelegs to keep it pinned. She let out a sigh, relieved she had stopped her friend's fall, even just barely.

Rarity's form was dangling over the edge, the only thing keeping her from plummeting to the ground was Fluttershy's weight on her scarf. Fluttershy peered over the edge, "Um...are you alright?" she murmured in her soft voice. Rarity didn't reply, but seemed to be clawing at her neck, where the scarf was firmly tied and probably tightening. Realizing this, Fluttershy attempted to pull her up, but to no avail, "Um...oh no." Fluttershy muttered. Soft gags emitted from the unicorn, whose airway was practically tied shut, and with each suffered sound, Fluttershy grew more panicked. Finally, she began slowly edging her way toward the edge, keeping a firm grip on the scarf until she finally got close enough to Rarity to touch her. Laying flat on her belly, Fluttershy dangled her forelegs toward Rarity, her back legs pinning the scarf in place and her wings poised for a downstroke.

She gripped Rarity under the forearms, and straining her back legs and flapping her wings, she felt the form of her friend rise and slide up over the roof edge. Laying her on her back, Fluttershy looked at her with alarm. The fleecy, tough scarf was tightened dangerously around her neck, and Rarity's pupils had gone down to pinpoints. She was still pulling at the garment that strangled her, but it would not come loose. "Oh, let me." Fluttershy offered, and she found with a panicky frustration she couldn't pull it off either. And Rarity was gasping noisily through her shrunken airway. Fluttershy's mind was in a whirl, and finally she decided she needed help with this. And fast. Why not take her home? Fluttershy decided it would be best right now to get Rarity to her house. She grabbed Rarity in a firm hold and lifted off, flapping hapharzardly toward her tree house in the forest.

...

"Okay, hang on. I'll get something." Fluttershy said as she laid Rarity in one of her chairs. The ragged breathing of the suffering unicorn was alarmingly louder, and Fluttershy hurried to her kitched, fetching a knife since the scarf was knotted up tight around her neck and impossible to pull off with just manual force. The pegasus stared at the knife, then Rarity with uncertainty. She didn't like sharp things, using any so close to skin, but it was the only way to save her friend. Reluctantly, she drew closer, "Be still, Rarity." she murmured, "I'll just have to cut the scarf off of you. I'm...um...really sorry, but..." she trailed off and lowered the knife toward the scarf. Not sure of how to start, she gently sawed at it where it was pressed into Rarity's neck, but didn't leave even a small tear. She tried at a different angle, gently wedging the point between Rarity and the scarf. She sawed it back and forth, but instead of feeling the tool tear through the ice-blue scarf, she felt it tear something softer...

Rarity's loud whimper of pain and the spreading dark rosette on the scarf occurred simutaneously in Fluttershy's vision, which had become turning unsteady. Fluttershy was quite squeamish, she hated blood. She had nearly freaked out the time she pulled a thorn from her hoof, and it drew blood. It just seemed so wrong, for blood to be on the outside of bodies. The sticky life released from where it belonged...seeping away...Fluttershy had only made a slight cut in Rarity's neck, but the blood soaking in the blue scarf and running down her skin made her skin crawl and the room careen around her. The targeted scarf that constricted her friend blurred and in her panic, began to twist the knife and rub it against any sort of surface. Tears streamed from her hot, steamy eyes as she saw more red, and heard more cries.

"It's okay! It's okay Rarity! I just made a little cut...I'll...get this scarf...off." Fluttershy whimpered, but her focus had abandoned her. Her body was shaking hard, nearly convulsive, and her senses were numb as her squeamishness ratcheted up to her limit. White adrenaline coursed through her viens, and tears clouded her already unclear vision. Everything was white and red, and Rarity's strained screams sounded muffled in her ears, which suddenly began ringing. She shut her eyes, unable to look on at her obviously unsuccessful progress, trying to ease the spinning in her skull and the shaking in her person.

The scarf was loosening, to Fluttershy's relief. A few more blind slices, and it gave way in her hooves. Fluttershy let herself fall back on her haunches, eyes still closed. She sighed, "Okay, Rarity. It's off. Um...hope you're not made that I had to..." she opened her eyes, and her words died in her throat. She stared numbly at what lay in her hooves, before the horror registered in her brain. Her hooves alone would have stunned a bit, since they were no longer pale yellow but darkly stained in crimson. The fancy, filmy scarf lay like a silky, red-stained feather in her grip, and under the transparent fabric was the knife, thickly soaked in the crimson liquid. She stared at the scarf. It was slightly torn, some of the loose threads sticking into the air, but it was clear that _it _was not cut off.

Her blue eyes drifted up to Rarity, who was slumped limply in the chair, mouth hanging open. Her head was tilted toward her, at an odd angle. Fluttershy dropped the bloody scarf and knife and went over to Rarity. Gently, she tapped her.

No response.

Fluttershy prodded at Rarity again, "Are you okay? Rarity?" She intentionally avoided looking at the rivulets of blood that ran down the white unicorn's shoulders. Perhaps the cut she made was a little more serious than she thought. Fluttershy pushed at one of the red-stained shoulders, and her head lolled way sideways,

and into her arms.

Fluttershy looked down, her pupils shrinking to mortified pinpoints as she registered the head of Rarity in her arms, the rest of the body still sitting in the chair.

_Oh its just Rarity but no head head in arms not on body Raritys head is in my arms not on her body?_

Fluttershy's vision went fuzzy and narrowed down to a tiny dot in the distance. The sound of the blood dripping on her floor sounded far away...

_Blood Raritys blood all over me on the floor on the knife not a cut bad bad bad Raritys got no head its in my arms..._

Rarity's wide, glazed over eyes suddenly had force, it seemed. It bore into her person, filling her skin with icy, crawling ants. Her head was spinning, going numb on her shoulders, thoughts were impossible. Blank. Fluttershy had gone blank. She was already out before her body hit the floor, the severed head of her friend rolling away...

...

A metallic scent entered her nose. Fluttershy's mind felt hazy. The last events she experienced were dragged back into her conscious.

_Rarity got hurt didnt she and i took her home._

Fluttershy groaned softly, and attempted to lift her head. She flinched, and let it lay back down on this cool surface. It felt like heavy iron orbs were rolling around inside her skull with each movement.

_Rarity had a little accident and i helped her shes fine shes resting now isnt she._

Fluttershy's breath was loud in her sensitive ears. She opened her eyes to darkness.

_Raritys fine everythings fine but why am i on the floor_

Slowly, steadily, Fluttershy lifted her head, trying to shut out the sharp daggers crashing into her head. Her whole body felt still and shaky, and her mind was muddled and fuzzy. She had felt like this once, when she was sick. Was it true? Was Fluttershy just sick?

_feel sick maybe just a bug everythings fine but why so uneasy_

She felt awful, and feelings of uneasiness, fright, and horror kept roiling like a tempest inside her. Why? Everything was fine...right?

She looked around, wating for her eyes to adjust to the mood lighting. It was dark, night-dark, in the house. All the lights were turned off, and the only kind of visibility in the room was because of the silver moonlight drifting like a shining river through her window. Fluttershy shuddered. She didn't like the dark.

Fear crashed through her as clearer memories raked back into her sore head. Metallic, coppery smells hung heavy in the air. She whimpered, feeling her skin prickle. Her gaze wandered down to her hooves, and she stifled a shriek. Her hooves were covered in blood.

So was her floor. Fluttershy looked up at the chair, and her lips trembled.

Rarity...her pearl-white fur, always kept so void of dirt and grime, was drenched in her liquid life. It was splashed in a thick trail toward another item on the floor.

Her severed head.

Fluttershy, trembling, made her way over to the head. The skin where it should be attatched to the neck was frayed into bloody threads and strands of flesh. A few damaged veins hung out of the sever, as well as red-drenched vertebrae. Fluttershy felt numb with horror as she unconsciously picked up the head. Rarity's glazed eyes stared into hers, reflecting an eternity of terror and pleading and innocence. Her mouth hung open, trails of blood dripped off her lips and dyed her tongue and teeth scarlet.

Fluttershy let her tears release, and she let her sobs grow loud in the heavy silence. She held the head close to her chest in a final, desperate hug of disbelief to what she'd done. She pressed her golden muzzle into Rarity's forehead, right below that forever-stilled magic horn of hers. Her purple curls tickled her nose, and brushed against her cheek with the softness of a fledgling's down. Fluttershy's hot tears ran down her face, dripping onto Rarity's head, and catching on her perfect purple mane like dewdrops. From the overhead view, she almost looked normal...that very thought made Fluttershy's sensitive heart break.

It did. Then it snapped. Fluttershy's eyes opened, and she jerked her head back, her light pink hair whooshing the air. Her jaws arched, lips drew back in a half-snarl, her eyes widening in a glare...she looked down at Rarity's head. Fluttershy felt realization hit her like a two-ton truck.

This was not her fault.

It was Rarity's.

Rarity shouldn't have been on the roof, wearing that stupid scarf. She shouldn't have been so unaware of Fluttershy to the point when her soft tones could send her toppling off the rooftop. Fluttershy wouldn't have had to save her, even if it did hurt. Fluttershy wouldn't have had to cut off the scarf because that idiot _tied _it around her neck. Fluttershy wouldn't have panicked at the sight of blood...

It was Rarity's fault. _All of it!_

With a barely surpressed shriek of rage, Fluttershy hurled the head away from her. It hit the wall with a bang, and splattered blood all over the surface.

Fluttershy was so overwhelmed. Rarity's foolishness, her intent to help, it all turning into one fatal mistake. Rarity was dead. Decaptitated. Head sawed off with a knife in the grip of Fluttershy. Blood...too much...too much...

Fluttershy was shaking with rage. She had never felt this powerful, this angry before. No, there was that one time...with the animals at the Gala, but it could never measure to this...

Fluttershy snorted with rage, "I'm...I'm so frustrated I could...I could just...kill someone!" she roared. Stomping her hooves in her rage fit, she shrieked, breaking the silence of night, "_Stupid Rarity!"_ and she charged at the head where it fell.

Planting her hooves on the skull, she grabbed a mouthful of that _perfect mane _and jerked her head up. She could hear the roots of the hair rip out of the scalp with each mouthful and each yank. After several pulls, all that remained on the head were a few ragged sprays of mane. The rest was scattered in frayed clumps all over the floor. Fluttershy was not finished with her rage. She punched the nose of Rarity's lifeless head, watching it break under her hoof and sent blood spurting from the nostrils. Fluttershy gave it a hard kick, and it rolled toward the body, still laying in its blood-soaked seat. Fluttershy stomped after it.

She found her knife where she dropped it and brandished it to the head, before she sent the point flying toward the cloudy eyes of the unicorn. The point pierced the cornia and slid through the eyeball as if it were melted butter. Butter filled with chunky red matter and blood, that splashed all over the head and the knife. All over Fluttershy's hooves. She mutilated the left eye, and poked the knife into the right, and simply yanked it out of the socket. The eye dangled by its cord, which the maddened pegasus sliced cleanly. She stomped the pierced eyeball with a foot, before she stomped the head sturdily. She saw the first hoof-shaped dent, then the second as her foot came down again. She kicked away the limb, and her red-sheeted gaze turned on the body, which she wacked off the chair with both hind legs.

She stomped up and down on the back of the pony, until it was bent up and twisted in contorted, disturbing positions. She was sure the spine was shattered. Fluttershy, gripping her knife, dug it into the forearm of Rarity's body, shearing through the skin and attempting to saw through the bone. Without success, she lifted another hoof and punched it with all her strenghth into Rarity's arm, and she saw the bloody bone beneath crack and snap like a branch, sending slivers of bone into her mane. When the forearm was discarded, Fluttershy did the same to the other three limbs. Then, for her finishing touch, she stabbed the knife into the chest of the unicorn and sheared it down past her naval. The slit widened fast, and the glimmering red organs spilt out. The stomach and liver flopped out like bloated water balloons, and the tubelike intestines snaked out into the growing puddle of blood, pus, and unidentifiable fluids.

Fluttershy back away from her work, panting heavily. She blinked once, twice, and the heavy heat of rage lifted from her vision. She breathed out, and finally she realized what she had done. Rarity had entered this house suffering but inact, and now...her remains were barely identifiable as a pony. It looked like one big, gorey fest belonging to some kind of creature...

Her anger evaporated, replaced by horror. She felt her legs lose their feeling, and her stomach suddenly clenched painfully. Burning heat welled up her throat, and Fluttershy let it out all over the floor. She gagged as her bile flew from her mouth, wincing as it left a coppery taste in her mouth...something like...her eyes widened.

She was vomiting blood. No, not just blood. She retched and another crimson spray fell to the floor, containing the thin thread of a capillary. Another flow of blood, and shreds of bone and larger viens fell with it. The sight made her belly churn and she threw up again, this time a crushed eyeball, still attatched with its cord, flowed out into the mess of bone pieces and viens. Fluttershy felt weak and shaky, but didn't retch again. She was probably completely empty. She stared from her gorey vomit to her mauling of Rarity's body, and screamed, clawing at her pink mane that still had bits of Rarity's leg bones tangled in it. She stumbled back, into her kitchen, and hit the cupboard. She fell, and the impact of her body hitting the cupboard sent dishes showering down around her. Glass shards raked down her body and stuck in her hoof. Her own blood, mingling with Rarity's, coated her pale golden fur.

Fluttershy fell to the floor, blood falling from her mouth where she had bitten the inside of her cheek too hard. She shivered, crying, and curled up in a tight ball. Her tears made the blood on her feet and face run. She trembled, and stared again at the mess she'd caused. Rarity's horribly maimed body ruined the room, and she watched the redness and gore vanish from her sick before her eyes. Had it been a hallucination? What if all of this had been a hallucination? It had to be. Yes, it had to be. Fluttershy was just dreaming. The pegasus startled herself with a small laugh. _Oh yes..._she thought, _I am very sick and seeing things. Rarity's...absolutely fine..._Fluttershy laughed again, louder, until it turned to hysterical guffawing that raked the air painfully. Finally it died down to tearful, shuddering giggles.

_I am really, really sick and having a bad dream. Everything will be alright. Everything will be okay. It's...funny...I can't believe I bought all that. _Fluttershy thought with an amused snort. Another boisterous holler of laughter punctuated the fact that Fluttershy had just slipped off the edge of sanity and committed murder all in one day.

_**Seriously. If you could read that, congrats. I honestly did warn you this was violent. I don't want any flames or complaints or anyone calling me a sick person or whatever. I wrote this out of boredom, and I know it's pointless. **_

_**And for those who somehow enjoyed this...the next part has Pinkie Pie. **_


	2. Chapter 2: Comfort

_**Yay. Next part. Expect Pinkie Pie here. **_

~Chapter 2~

Fluttershy had no knowledge of being conscious or not, what was reality and what was a dream. Garbled voices and sights and pseudo events of the incident last night ran through her head. She was just floating in some disorientating void of nothing. Nothing but memories of which she was unsure were true or not. She saw Rarity, over and over again, unscathed then in the chair. Sometimes she saw what she had been doing when she had been trying to cut off the scarf and had closed her eyes. She saw the knife sawing the wrong way, not against the ice-blue fabric but against the skin of Rarity's neck. The blade was splattering dark red blood that soaked into the scarf and down the throat. The flesh splitting under the serrated edge. She saw it slice through the jugular and other viens, saw her knife through the vertebrae in a panic. She dismissed that as a dream.

Then she was watching herself. Fluttershy watched herself leaning over Rarity's body, whose arms were flailing and legs kicking in terror as she felt herself bleeding out. Fluttershy saw her head turn away, eyes squeezed shut and teeth gritted with squeamish, panicked fear. She saw the unsteady blade strokes.

Then something happened she knew she didn't do.

The vision of herself suddenly opened her eyes, and the pupils were shrunken and black as night. She saw a crooked smile grow on the Fluttershy's lips, and suddenly she ripped the knife out of Rarity's neck. Fluttershy, the one watching her dream self, heard herself gasp. The dream Fluttershy was staring right at her, smiling wickedly, shoulders shaking with quiet snickers of morbid delight. The dream Fluttershy moved aside to let real Fluttershy see the work. Rarity's neck was half sawed off, the vertebrae clearly visible but stained with dark blood that dripped from the stump.

Dream Fluttershy grinned and instead of sawing the knife, she hacked it into Rarity's neck, and a firehose-like stream of blood sprayed. Dream Fluttershy lowered her head with her mouth open, letting real Fluttershy watch the blood spray into her mouth, dribbling from her lips, down her neck...

"Stop. Stop it." Fluttershy whimpered, shutting her eyes. When she opened them again, the feverish vision had moved on and she was somewhere else in the room. She was next to Rarity's headless body, the time when she realized what she'd done when the head rolled into her arms. The head was there now, fresh. Fluttershy held it, shaking, and felt tears run down her face.

Rarity's glazed eyes also wept tears.

Fluttershy froze, staring at the crying head. The mouth began to move, to sob, louder and louder.

Then it spoke,

"Fluttershy..." it cried, "Fluttershy..."

"No..." Fluttershy muttered, "Please don't be..."

"Fluttershy..." The head cried louder, "Fluttershy...!"

"Stop it! Stop it!" Fluttershy cried, flinging the head against the wall. It hit with a bang, but once it hit the floor, _it rolled back toward her._

"Fluttershy! FLUTTERSHY!" The head was screaming her name now, cursing it, cursing her. Fluttershy shrank against the wall and covered her face, flattening her ears, but the sound was too loud, it was in her head, in her mind, burned there for till the last of her days. Fluttershy screamed, and opened her eyes.

She was sitting outside, in the forest, and in front of her was her rabbit friend, Angel. His head was to the side, as if concerned. Fluttershy sighed, "So glad...I'm so glad to see you, Angel." she sighed. She smiled at the rabbit, but he looked at her strangely, before he opened his mouth and began to speak,

"Fluttershy. You know what you did." he said flatly. Fluttershy stared at him in shock, and she shuddered as Angel stepped closer, "You know what you did. You know what you did." he said. Suddenly, it went black like night, and Angel was gone. Replaced by Rarity's body, rid of all her limbs. The blood was washing all around her hooves, the puddle stretching like an ocean, far over to the horizon on either side of her. Fluttershy cried out as the tide of crimson blood rose higher, up to her belly, her neck. She tried to run, but a wave of the sticky blood knocked her under, forcing her to swallow a sickening mouthful of Rarity's liquid life. She gagged, paddling toward the surface. Just as her muzzle was about to break the surface, sturdy hooves kicked her to the depths. She felt the wieght of a body on top of her, pinning both shoulders, sending her down, down, down...the assailant was Rarity. The sight of her made Fluttershy choke on the blood. Rarity had black stitches running all around her neck, her eyes were empty sockets, her hair ragged, torn locks close to her head. Her limbs were stitched back into place, but the wound in her belly was still wide open. There were no intestines. Fluttershy shut her eyes. Rarity was coming to get her revenge. She was going to have it. The pegasus couldn't take it anymore. Her lungs burned from lack of air, tightening like they were being constricted. She screamed.

...

Hooves were touching her now, hauling her off the floor. Fluttershy cried out, shivering, kicking at whatever was grabbing her, hoisting her up. Was Rarity here to drag her to Hades, or the guards even, to arrest her because they know what she'd done? Maybe it was another hallucination, another sick nightmare. Fluttershy didn't know. The line between reality and dreamscape was too blurred. She was thrown onto someone's back, and she kept screaming in defiant fear, flailing madly through her tears and confusion, but not daring to open her eyes. She was carried for a while before she was dropped into water.

She shrieked again, but not as loud. She was too weak, and if her punishment was to be drowned, so be it. She was so tired, so confused, so twisted...she didn't care what happened. She identified the water source she was in was contained in a tub, and she wearily laid her head down on the edge. The water was warm and sweet-smelling that overlaid the scent of blood that still clung to her form and house. A comforting wet cloth was running up her back, stinging as it passed over glass cuts made from the dishes raining on her. The sticky coat of blood was lifting, and the wet rag brushed gently across her face, over her hooves, through her hair...it was indeed soothing.

The cloth didn't come back. The water drained away and Fluttershy remained immobile as a warm towel wrapped around her body, and one around her mane. She was picked up again and sooner put down on a soft surface. Another soft item, like a blanket, was pulled over her body, and tucked up under her chin. Her mane was pushed from her burning forehead, and a soothingly cool and wet cloth was laid over it. She felt at ease, finally, and let her foggy conscious fade.

...

When she drifted back to wakefulness, and fully conscious, she dared open her eyes. She saw her ceiling, she felt her sheets covering her, her body wrapped in towels. She was still in her house, and the sticky blood feeling on her fur had gone, leaving it feeling fresher, cleaner. She inhaled slowly, controlling her breaths. Her sleep, after the hallucination dreams, was undisturbed and blissfully deep...She was very much convinced that all past events were nothing but a sickness-induced dream. Yes. Now she was getting help. She would gradually heal the scars of her nightmares, she would be feeling better soon. Rarity's probably ficticious dream nothing but a dark spot in her memory...

She sniffed the air, realization striking her. What was once the stench of blood and exposed intestines that had filled her senses all night, the smells in the air of her house were replaced by a heavy, heated, sweet aroma...she knew that scent. Was it...

"Cupcakes?"

Fluttershy jumped, eyes flying open, and a familiar face popped up in front of her. The pink face bearing a small smile, the blue eyes twinkling with friendliness, and something else...In Pinkie Pie's hooves held a silver tray of a dozen red velvet cupcakes topped with a swirl of magenta frosting. They looked delectable, and Fluttershy sat up, looking at Pinkie Pie. Suddenly she was concerned, for Pinkie Pie's usual bouncy pink curls had turned into a flat sheet of pink hair that hung over one side of her head, like that time when she had felt depressed and betrayed when no one would show up for her pet's after birthday party. Except now she looked more somber, and a slight smile did almost nothing to brighten her shaded expression. "Are you okay, Pinkie Pie?" she asked, ignoring the tray of cupcakes.

The pink pony shrugged, "Well," she started, "I saw you yesterday carrying Rarity." Fluttershy froze as she went on, "And I though 'well maybe there's something wrong?' But I decided to leave you to it 'cause you can handle stuff, and then Rarity didn't come back."

Fluttershy shuddered, "N-no, Pinkie..." she stammered, "Rarity...she must have gone home last night, or this morning...she had to." Her heart plummeted as Pinkie Pie shook her head. The pony lowered her head, her blue eyes shadowing with some kind of dark thought,

"Fluttershy..." she said in a most serious, most un-Pinkie Pie like tone, "I found Rarity this morning when I came to check." her voice dropped to a whisper, "Her remains." Fluttershy felt all the feeling drain from her body, and her hooves began shaking. Her eyes twitched and ran with tears. She shook her head in denial, and her attempted smile was distorted,

"N-no...Pinkie...that's not true...that was all a dream last night. I'm...I think I'm really ill and need help. Real help...I..." her voice was breaking, "They're hallucinations...dreams...visions...I'm so...I'm..." her voice broke off there, and the story of her "dream" came out in broken words stemmed by sobs and tears. Pinkie Pie listened quietly, her concerned eyes never leaving Fluttershy's face. When she had finished, the pale yellow pegasus had descended into quiet weeping, forgetting Pinkie Pie's prescence for a minute.

It wasn't a dream. It was real. She wasn't sick, wasn't dreaming, wasn't hallucinating...it was really happening.

Fluttershy had killed somepony. And that somepony was her friend, Rarity.

Pinkie Pie sighed, and put the tray aside, only taking one cupcake. She moved up next to Fluttershy and sat on the bed next to her, draping one arm around the distressed filly's shoulders. The other hoof offered the cupcake, waving its still-warm scent under Fluttershy's muzzle. Fluttershy turned her head away, but Pinkie pushed the cupcake closer, "Please eat, Fluttershy." She urged Fluttershy's head to turn toward her, "It's yummy. It's a Pinkie Pie specialty! C'mon..." She urged it toward Fluttershy's mouth, and she feebly nipped off a piece of the warm pastry, feeling fresh and bright tastes infuse her mouth, ridding it of its dryness. She chewed slowly, savoring the berry-like taste and velvety texture on her tongue, letting it slide down her throat...she shyly took the rest of the cupcake and tucked into it with slow, savoring bites. Pinkie Pie simutaneously rubbed her back comfortingly, watching her silently as she finished off the cupcake. Fluttershy looked at Pinkie Pie with a brighter expression, still overlaid with saddness,

"Pinkie, you shouldn't be comforting me. I...did a bad thing. I should be banished...or...executed...for what I've done." she whispered. Pinkie Pie pulled her closer to her as a response, letting Fluttershy's head rest on her shoulder. Fluttershy let out a shuddering breath and buried her muzzle into Pinkie's shoulder,

"You didn't do anything wrong, Fluttershy." Pinkie Pie murmured. Fluttershy lifted her tear-fogged eyes, blinking questioningly at Pinkie, "You didn't do anything wrong," Pinkie Pie repeated, "It wasn't your fault. You panicked, and Rarity shouldn't have tied the scarf around her neck." Pinkie Pie let go of Fluttershy and began pacing back to the tray of cupcakes, which had begun to cool, "I remember...I had raged like you did last night. It was super-scary the first time, since I broke a bunch of stuff."

Fluttershy stared at her. _The first time? _Pinkie Pie had violent rages before, and several at that? Pinkie Pie looked the least likely to be enraged by anything. The least destructive. Besides Fluttershy herself, of course. But what she wanted to know was if her violent rage attack was normal. Was it? And if it wasn't, would there be another? And if it wasn't normal, did that mean there was something wrong with Pinkie, and she was going through the same? Questions hammered her mind, and she let them out to Pinkie in a rush.

Pinkie listened, her somberness was still startling to Fluttershy. She didn't seem at all like the upbeat party pony she knew she was. Pinkie didn't even seem to be trying to put a positive spin on this situation. The pink pony knew something. She knew what was wrong with Fluttershy. And it was something bad. Finally, she responded, "No, not all ponies have the super-scary rages I have, and you're getting. Sometimes I don't even have to be mad about something. Sometimes it just...takes over." her peppy voice dropped to a low murmur, "I try to resist, and I end up hurting myself, hurting others. I stopped resisting...and it stopped hurting. It stopped...and I learned..." She looked at Fluttershy, and offered her another cupcake. Fluttershy gratefully accepted it, realizing she was starving, and listened uneasily as Pinkie went on, "I became a better pony, I'm sure. But...sometimes the better pony told me to do stuff I thought was wrong. And before I could decide what to do, the job was done." she whispered, almost a bit sadly, "And to this day I can't decide at all...is the better pony in me making me a better pony, or a slave to it?" she shook her head, blinked several times in silence, then looked directly at Fluttershy,

"Pinkie..." Fluttershy asked, "Is it a mental problem...? Maybe you should..." Pinkie interrupted her by leaping back to her bedside,

"No! Not at all! Not even a tiny bit!" she said, sudden energy charging her words, "I know these rages will pay off. I'll become happier when I learn to listen to the better pony in me more. I know this for a fact." she stared powerfully at Fluttershy, "Pinkie Pie Swear."

Fluttershy nodded numbly, finishing off the second cupcake, and was handed a third, "Pinkie...is that what's happening to me?"

Pinkie nodded solemnly, "Yes. It means you're special. Super-special. And you'll be a better pony. It'll be kinda scary at first, but I'll be here to help you out. Promise!" she said.

Fluttershy nodded, smiling.

"Fluttershy." Pinkie Pie said, "You're beautiful with innocence. Because of that, you'll be easier to be accepted."

Fluttershy nodded again, and Pinkie placed her arm around Fluttershy's shoulders again, "Remember...it's okay to be angry, Fluttershy. It's okay to rage..."


	3. Chapter 3: Games

**_Haven't updated in a while. Hopefully I can make this chapter worthwhile._**

**_Let the madness continue, damnit!_**

~Chapter 3~

_It's only a game. Aren't you having fun?_

The scene of the crime had been carefully scrubbed clean, the remains deposited into a rugged grave. It was as if nothing had ever happened, and Fluttershy was almost convinced of her abandoned theory, that it was all just a dream.

Pinkie had cleaned up. Fluttershy had been astounded that Pinkie seemed perfectly okay with the job, and how well she did it. It was as if the pink party pony had experienced nothing wrong with the cleaning of blood and body parts.

She had advised Fluttershy go for a walk to clear her mind. What else could she do?

_What happens if somepony finds out?_

_Nopony will. You won't be found out._

_But somepony will..._

_No. Do whatever it takes to keep this a secret._

_..._

"Fluttershah? Y'all okay?"

Fluttershy jumped at Applejack's voice. She hadn't realized her hoof-guided walk had brought her to Sweet Apple Acres. The orange earth pony was looking her over carefully.

"Um..." Fluttershy began, "Everything's okay."

"Well..." Applejack muttered, "Oh, have y'all seen Rarity? She ain't in 'er home this mornin'."

The blood under Fluttershy's skin went icy.

_Yes, I have seen Rarity. I nearly strangled her with a scarf and now I've gone and decapitated her. She's dead, I killed her._

_Or maybe you just don't need to know._

Fluttershy shook her head, a bit too erractically, "Nope! Haven't." she muttered, "I haven't seen her all day."

Applejack peered at Fluttershy carefully, "Y'all a bit jumpy today. Yer sure nothin's wrong?" she asked.

That was when the red, like blood flowing over her eyes, sheeted her vision.

Her panicked heart suddenly slowed with the calmness that spread over her. She smiled a smile that portrayed friendliness, but hid deception, "Yes. Nothing is wrong, Applejack." Fluttershy said, "Um...I actually think I saw Rarity just now, going into the barn." she said, pointing toward the building down the hill they stood on.

_You don't need to know a thing. _

_Dead birds don't sing. Dead ponies don't spill._

Applejack cantered up to the barn, Fluttershy on her heels. The orange pony stepped through the gaping doors, looking into a shadowed interior, "Rarity? Y'all in there?" she called.

The doors suddenly slammed shut with a fluid kick. The barn's inside was plunged into pitch darkness.

Applejack jumped, "What? Who closed the..." she finished the sentence with a yelp, and found herself crumped into the hay. The pain receptors at the back of her head suddenly responded, filling her skull with a white-fire pain that blurred her vision and rang in her ears. She thought she heard Fluttershy before her senses went numb.

But it couldn't be. Fluttershy couldn't sound so demonic...

...

She groaned as a light pierced into her skull, through her eyelids, amplifying the ache from the afflicted spot at the back of her head. She tried to roll away from it, only to find her body incapable of movement. Applejack opened her eyes, wincing as the light sent a bolt of pain rocketing through her skull, but with effort managed to adapt to the burning light. She blinked, clearing the fog from her eyes. Her senses still numb, her surroundings came sluggishly through feel. Applejack was laying on a hahybale, she recognized the shape under her form. The chaffing of rope bound around each hoof, stretching her legs out as far as they'd go registered. A response triggered, and Applejack reflexively pulled at one rope, only to grimace in pain as the scratchy fibers dug into her flesh. Whatever was the other end tied to, it wouldn't come undone through manual pulling.

"Fluttershah?" Applejack called tentatively.

The pegasus seemed to materialize from the darkness, as if she had been waiting for that cue. _The _knife was in her mouth. The single light source, the hanging lamp fom overhead, highlighted every crease in her sinister, lovely face with shadows. The silver of the knife shone eerily in the dim lighting.

Applejack seemed taken aback, "Fluttershah? What's goin' on?" she asked, and then felt the pain of her head again, "Did you hit me, Fluttershah?"

Fluttershy blinked simply, and transferred the knife from her mouth to her hoof. She smiled angelically, "No. I'm just playing a game." she said, "I thought you'd think it was fun...so..."

"Y'all hit me!" Applejack interjected, "Why'd ya do that? This ain't no game Ai've ever seen!" she exclaimed.

"Quiet, please." Fluttershy murmured, "Um...somepony might hear." she played with the knife a bit.

Applejack's brief anger dissipated, replaced with a cold dread and creeping fright, "...F-Fluttershah, y'all are creepin' me out with that there knife..." she paused, "What kind of game is this?"

Fluttershy smiled, looking innocently pleased, as if she wasn't standing over her friend whom she knocked out and tied up, "Oh, it's a fun game. But you have to be quiet. I'm new at it so..." she trailed off, examining Applejack's face, "Now...where to start?"

Applejack was not entirely conviced, "Start where, Fluttershah? What are y' gonna do?"

Fluttershy shrugged silently, and suddenly the knife came down. Applejack shrieked as she felt the blade slice at her mouth. She tasted blood as her tongue felt the puncture in her lip. She stared at Fluttershy in shock, "Are y'all out of yer mind?"

"I said be quiet!" Fluttershy hissed. She sighed, "I guess I'm going to have to make you quiet. You're breaking the rules..." she murmured, almost sadly. With a quick movement, she wrenched open Applejack's mouth.

The orange pony writhed under her, her eyes wide with fear. A scream ripped from her, but it ended in a sickening gurgle as Fluttershy cleanly sliced through her tongue, sending blood and some sort of chunky matter pouring down her throat. She whisked the severed tongue away, and then pinned Applejack's shut, watching her be forced to swallow the fluids of her wound. Applejack was still gagging as Fluttershy let go, grabbing a piece of rope which she used to tie shut Applejack's mouth. Applejack's muffled screams echoed through the barn, but not loud enough to be heard outside.

"Why don't...I start with your mouth, since I already cut out your tongue." Fluttershy murmured. Applejack's head thrashed under her, but Fluttershy pinned it to the haybale. Her knife blade traced along Applejack's lips, from the corner of her mouth to her cheek. She traced a frown, a smile, and blinked, sinking her knife into Applejack's mouth.

The orange pony's silenced screams were frenzied with pain as the blade sawed through the corner of the mouth, extending the agonized frown to as far as the base of her ears. Fluttershy saw the blood running down from the wound, and found herself not shaking, not panicking at first sight.

In fact, it quelled her rage-induced hunger. She wanted more.

Fluttershy's knife extended the eerie smile along the other side of Applejack's face, and now the pony bore a huge, jagged smile, reddness running down her cheeks and dripping onto her chest.

Fluttershy wasn't yet down with the mouth. She saw the pearly white teeth of her friend when she attempted to snarl at her, and decided to do those next. The pegasus peeled the lips away from Applejack's teeth, and sent the blade delving slowly, deliberately, into the gums. Applejack was screeching through her restraints, tears streaking down her face and making the blood watery on her cheeks.

The pink gums went red, and Fluttershy heard the dull clicking as her knife sliced a few tooth roots. A reddended tooth fell out suddenly, dragging with it a clot of blood on its furrowed roots. Fluttershy watched it fall to the floor, then initiated a quick cut across the row of top teeth, sending several showering out of Applejack's mouth. One fell into her throat, making her wretch. Some of the tougher teeth Fluttershy had to root out with difficultly. Clumps of pulpy gum, and sliced teeth fell. Fluttershy looked at the bottom row of front teeth, and slid the knife blade under one tooth, sliding it in a delicate little arc under the tooth. Then back up. The slice of gum was still attatched to the tooth, and fell deeper into Applejack's mouth. She made pretty little wave shapes, sending teeth showing backwards or to the floor with each arc.

Applejack wasn't even screaming anymore. She was still alive, but the pain had sent her to unconsciousness. Fluttershy sighed, "You seemed really athletic." she murmured. Absently, she abandoned her work on the mouth and found the ears. It was boring, hacking off both ears. There was blood, yes, but the dismemberment of the parts were uneventful.

Fluttershy was still hungry, but she didn't want to resort to eviserating, or decapitating the pony. She wanted to keep her alive a while longer. She busied herself with inscribing little symbols into Applejack's hooves. One she drew was a cute little butterfly that continually bled.

Applejack floated back toward consciousness, and her screaming began again. Fluttershy stared into her wide eyes, and hovered the knife over one eye. Applejack squeezed her eyes shut in fear, and Fluttershy hesitated. Instead, she had another idea, "Wait here." she asked, and raced from the barn, careful to shut the door behind her.

She wandered the perimeter of the barn a while, her searching gaze hungering for a certain, specific item...glowing, hot...there it was!

She saw the black iron stick, the end resting in a bed of glowing coles. She raced over, picking it up, and quickly used it to jostle the coals, to get them hotter. She let the stick's patterened end sit in the hot embers before she withdrew it, watching it glow with heat and light.

She ran back to the barn, careful again to tightly shut the doors. Fluttershy trotted up to Applejack, whose screams had descended into pitiful whimpers of pain. Fluttershy shushed her comfortingly, "Don't cry, Applejack." she soothed, "It's only a game? Aren't you having fun? It's like playing doctor."

Applejack stared at her with her eyes full of betrayal and fear, her lack of ears making the sound come muffled and incoherent. They widened as Fluttershy lowered the heated stick toward them. She squeezed her eyes shut again, and screeched as the scalding metal met with her eye. Smoke and the smell of burnt fur and skin rose into the air. Fluttershy smiled, seeing the initials "SAA" appear over the eyelid. As she lifted the stick, she saw the almost constant tears flow from the quivering, burnt eyelid. She pressed the stick against the other eye, earning another screech, another flow of tears...

Fluttershy found that using this...burning stick thing was actually quite enjoyable. She crossed over to Applejack's haunches, locating the cutie mark and printing the "SAA" over it as well, marring the apple symbols on the fur.

Applejack, Fluttershy noticed with disappointment, had passed by this time, unable to withstand the pain. Fluttershy set the stick down, seeing most of its heat was fading. She looked over her accomplishment.

Applejack was tied down, the ropes dug into her bloody hooves showed her struggles. Her ears were bloody stumps, her mouth expanded eerily and still bleeding. Teeth littered the floor, some still hung from her ruined mouth by gorey tendrils of exposed roots. Her eyes were closed forever, each eyelid had the initials of the farm burnt into them, and the cutie mark as well.

Fluttershy sighed, and jumped as she heard a voice from outside, then somepony pulling on the barn doors. She had wanted to slice open Applejack, like she had done with Rarity, but when the doors swung open, Fluttershy was already gone.

_**So the hunt begins. I'm kind of uneasy about this chapter...I at least hope it didn't sound rushed and badly done...**_

_**Anyways...wonder who the next victim will be?**_


	4. Chapter 4: Disbelief

_**Hm...is it really that easy to guess? But anyways, this part of the story begins to change from its gorey-gorefest-ness. XD Just keep reading.**_

_**Also, the reviewer who calls themself "HugefanofHailfireVulpes"... I WILL FIND OUT WHO YOU ARE! XDDD**_

_**Ahem...**_

~Chapter 4~

_Wow. Paper is really flammable..._

Her sleep was stolen by the red glow through her eyelids. As she awoke, a golden tendril of light escaped from her curtain-covered windows and slanted into her face. She lifted her head from her pillow, noting the soreness of her eyes and the dampness of old tears where her head was laying all night. The blankets were drawn up over her head, throwing her face into shadow. She blinked numbly, then lay her head back down with a soft groan. She sniffed and wiped an incoming tear away, feeling the energy had been sucked out of her body.

Rarity and Applejack. Two of her closest friends. Two of the Elements of Harmony...gone. Rarity was still presumed missing, and Applejack...

Twilight Sparkle whimpered at the thought and rolled over, unable to process the knowledge of what happened to the earth pony.

Yesterday, Applebloom- oh, why did it have to be Applebloom?- went into the barn to look for her sister. Oh, she found her all right. Twilight felt another pang of grief and sorrow when she reminiscened the young filly's face after she had delivered her findings to Twilight. Applebloom had found her sister, all legs tied by the ankles and pulled out. Her mouth...it was a big, red smile of missing teeth, ripped gums, and clumps of bloody matter. She had seen Applejack's severed tongue laying a few feet away from her sister's strapped-down body. Her ears were red stumps of cartalidge, and the severed bits buried in the hay. Eyes burned shut, cutie mark tarnished...why did Applebloom have to find her first?

Twilight sighed pulling the blanket into her eyes to wipe away another onslaught of tears. Who knows what happened to Rarity? And she assumed that since Applejack was murdered...Rarity probably was too. She'd been missing for two days, after all.

Consumed by depression, Twilight found no motivation to lose herself in her studies, her reading, or even to get out of bed. She'd been crying all night, tormented by nightmares of her friends dying before her...crying as she woke, suffering as she slept...

She flinched as the creak of her door announced a prescence. She didn't want to be bothered today. She just wanted to lay here...

"Twilight? Are you okay?" her assistant, Spike the baby dragon, adressed her from the doorway. His voice sounded far away however...

Twilight sniffed, feeling too drained to call back. She let a sob escape her throat and buried her face in the blankets.

Spike's voice sounded again, "Twilight? You wanna get up? You, uh, have a visitor." he said. Twilight blinked numbly, trying to register his words. She lay there for a while, until she was sure Spike had left, until she sat up slowly. The blanket slid off her head, revealing her tufted mane, neglected of its usual brush in the morning. She sighed, and turned her head, seeing Spike was still standing there. His concerned look suggested Twilight probably looked pretty bad this morning, "Um, you have a visitor." Spike repeated. Twilight nodded feebly,

"Tell them I'll be down in a second." she replied, noting her broken, weak voice. She watched Spike leave downstairs. Twilight Sparkle stepped out of bed and shuffled toward her mirror, taking in her appearance with a slightly startled frown. Her purple pelt had dulled into a sort of ash tinged with her original color. Her eyes were reddened with sleep depravation, and her mane was a scruffy mess. She took scarcely a minute to brush out her mane, then hurried downstairs.

...

Fluttershy blinked, she had heard word of Applejack's murder had spread. Twilight knew. Maybe everything excluding Fluttershy's role in these crimes. Rarity's been missing for two days, and Applejack was hideously maimed and slaughtered in her barn, her body found by Applebloom. It was all Fluttershy's doing...it felt strange to the yellow pegasus that she actually had done this. That ponies knew what she did without actually knowing she did it. It was like watching a movie about herself, a movie that was realistic but surely fake. Fluttershy now awaited Twilight patiently in her library. Fluttershy knew the hunger, the rage would come again this time. She knew by sunset today, a new murder will be added to the list. Twilight Sparkle. Murdered under mysterious circumstances. Fluttershy had to make sure her actions were well covered up. No one saw her leave for Twilight's home. No one would know she was ever here...after the kill.

Fluttershy expected to feel a thrill when the blood would flow, the body would scream, but this time it felt...boring. Her anticipation for the murder of Twilight was dull. It no longer felt like she was doing this to calm her hunger for kills, but rather it felt like it was just something that had to be done, like a housechore.

She had already taken care of Spike. Quick, silent. As he had returned from upstairs, Fluttershy had nabbed him from behind, tied shut his throat with a string of rope until he was quiet and unmoving, but still alive. She transferred his small body into a baby dragon-sized sack, and had just barely finished stuffing it into a hidden niche in an old bookshelf when Twilight herself came trudging down the stairs, the news of her friends' deaths had obviously shaken her.

"Fluttershy?" Twilight Sparkle creaked as she came close. Her eyes brightened a tad, "I'm...glad you're okay."

Fluttershy nodded, feeling the familiar red rinse over her vision. She smiled widely, "Yes, um, thank you Twilight." she murmured. _What to do her in with?_

She eyed a tilting bookshelf.

And a candle on the nearby table. Dimly lit but still alive with flame.

Twilight sighed and sat down heavily, "I just...can't believe this would happen. Not...Rarity and Applejack were just innocent ponies..." her voice broke into a sob, "Why them...?"

Fluttershy shrugged, letting a glint of grief into her eyes. Although she was the mind behind their demises, she still would miss them. They had been good friends, but their singing blood had also calmed her hunger for it, her rages. Sometimes one must die so another can live peacefully.

_But when will enough be enough? _Indeed...how many lives would Fluttershy have to take before her rages and bloodthirst were gone for good?

Not important right now.

Twilight was going on, this time just pacing around the room. Fluttershy's blue eyes locked on her like lasers, "You know what, Fluttershy? I'm gonna find out who did this to Rarity and Applejack." she swore softly, "I'll...I'll kill them myself. Bastards...I'm..." her voice broke again, and she stomped the ground, "I'll _kill them! I'll kill them for what they did!"_ she exploded.

Fluttershy paid barely attention to Twilight's rant, but she felt a stab of grief and guilt pierce her heart. She wanted to say, _It's okay Twilight. I'm a very out-of-sorts pony who killed them both. Please don't be mad. It was to ease my mind, my hunger. They truely were great friends, and they helped me greatly for that time...Twilight. I need help again. I need to make your blood run._

Fluttershy herself was pacing, right up to the leaning bookshelf, with which concealed the gagged body of Spike. She sighed along with Twilight, shooting swift glances at the shelf, sizing it up, wondering how much force it would take to topple it down onto its unsuspecting victim...pin her against the ground...

The moment seemed to come too fast. There was Twilight, coming right up to her. Right in front of the shelf. Fluttershy suddenly felt completely wrong. She didn't want to kill Twilight anymore. But something in her was freezing her legs, urging her, forcing her to go on. She gritted her teeth as she was forced by this unseen entity to edge closer to what would soon be an instrument in Twilight's death.

"Fluttershy? Are you alright?" Twilight inquired. In a thoughtless flash of movement, both of Fluttershy's legs shot out and smashed into the shelf with more strength than she thought she possessed. The shelf tilted toward Twilight. The purple unicorn only stared with growing horror, trying to process what was coming at her as the falling books pelted her body.. Before she could move, the shelf had landed on her.

Fluttershy's knife materialized in her grip from their hidden location tucked under her folded wings, just in time to see Twilight squirming out from under the shelf halfway. Her eyes stared up at Fluttershy with shock, "What are you doing?" she cried.

Fluttershy targeted first the source that could be a threat to her. The horn. Even now, she could see the faintest wisps of magic swirling around them. Fluttershy lunged at Twilight, crushing her muzzle into the floor with one hoof while another hastily dug into the flesh around the horn. Twilight's muffled screaming and flailing sounded as the silver, sharpened wedge delved into the purple, running it red, and hit her horn matter. It took a bit of tough sawing, but Fluttershy felt the blade cutting through the horn, with small, rhythmic scrapes. Twilight was screeching through her closed mouth, the blood running in heavy streams down her face. Her eyes were rinsed over in blood. Her neat mane matted in it.

With no warning, the horn tipped off its jagged stump, and Fluttershy quickly picked up and threw the horn to the other side of the room as if it were burning hot. Now useless without magic, Fluttershy continued. She was open to new methods of these killings, with Rarity it was mutilation. With Applejack it was the burning stick and the knife ingravings. Now...

Fluttershy sank the blade back into the wound where her horn was gouged out, sliding its fine width just under the skin, and sliced a strip of red-stained purple off of her face. Twilight was screaming still, her tears mixing gruesomely with the blood. Under her pelt was a total patch of pale pink, with the liquid life seeping through it like a sponge. The curled strip of damp skin that Fluttershy held...she sized up its length for a mere second. It was the strip coming from the horn wound down to Twilight's muzzle. It would be long enough. With some effort, Twilight's muzzle was bound shut with the strip of her own skin.

Fluttershy sheared off another slice of skin, and used it to reinforce the binds on Twilight's mouth. She looked back at Twilight, whose screams and struggles were growing weak. Fluttershy sighed, _bored now. She's gonna die soon, anyway. Why not go out with..._She eyed the dim candle, _a wonderful fireworks display._

Fluttershy simply picked up the candle, letting its flame expand by feeding it fresher air. She held the candle over Twilight, who looked at her with wide, pleading eyes. A hot drop of wax fell, right onto the jagged wound where her horn formally was. Twilight screamed, her screams descending into pained whispers. She let the whole candle fall onto the shelf, and watched emotionlessly as it ignited like tinder.

Fluttershy looked back down at Twilight, who was so enwrapped in pain her eyes had fogged up. Those eyes drifted up to look at her again with numb disbelief. Fluttershy nodded, "Yes Twilight. It was all me. But it's what I have to do. Please don't hate me." she murmured. She leane down and landed a soft kiss on Twilight's head, avoiding the bloodiest parts of her face, and backed away. _Wow, paper sure is flammable._ She thought. The fire had completely engulfed the shelf and was spreading around the room. Fluttershy backed out of the house, giving Twilight one final look before she had once again disappeared...


	5. Chapter 5: Revenge

_**Wow. I haven't updated in how long now...? I wonder if people are still checking in...**_

_**But here's yet another update. Sorry for lack of attention on this fic.**_

~Chapter 5~

_This was never supposed to happen..._

A mutual paranoia had settled over the town, muting its usual cheerful affairs. Everypony knew the dark secret go go undenied much longer.

Rarity was missing for three days.

Applejack was found brutally slaughtered in her barn.

Twilight Sparkle's house burned down, no signs of it being an accident.

A murderer was running wild in Equestria.

What they didn't know was who, naturally. Strangely nothing added up, no evidence was coherent to point to a certain pony, or have any value at all. Everypony spent their days in a shroud of fear, for they could be the next victim of this heinous act.

...

She watched emptily as her own shadow fell over the smooth gray stone. Her jaws twitched, and a bundle of wildflowers, roses, and carnations fell to earth. A lone petal was snagged by the wind and blew past her face, brushing her cheek. She looked down to the earth again, shuffling one hoof with absent misery through the recently-upturned dirt. A small, small tear rolled down her face, and she gritted her teeth to keep from showing her immense saddness.

She knealt down to the stone, engraved with the name of a fallen soul called Applejack, and touched her nose to it as if in farewell. Her gaze hardened, "I will avenge you. I will avenge all of you." she swore quietly. She would find out the murderer. She would find this psychopath and send him to hell herself. She was going to be the one who took the bastard's life, since he had done in so many valuble ones...

Dash knew this because, unlike the others, she wouldn't be caught unaware.

Trust nopony...

...

Fluttershy let her chair recline back a few inches as she inspected this week's paper. Judging from the glaring headline: **_MYSTERIOUS MURDERER AT LARGE! PONYVILLE BEING HUNTED! _**Her actions were becoming quite a big deal. For a moment, she let herself be worried. She felt strangely numb, disbelieving, as if this really wasn't happening to her. It was like watching some horrific movie, starring a pink-haired Pegasus...who was picking off her friends one-by-one because they helped calm her newly found rages...

_Don't invent problems. _Fluttershy thought to herself, scanning through the main article. She frowned as she read over a part about the Elements of Harmony.

_...Could possibly be targetting the Elements of Harmony for unknown intentions based on the fact that all three cases had been Elements. Perhaps whomever this shadowed brute is may have his sights on another Element..._

Newspaper editors seem to have no sense of subtileness.

Fluttershy breathed out. There certainly wasn't any reason to be alarmed, though her actions had started to become predictable. If she continued she might stumble into a trap and find herself in trouble...

Who next?

Fluttershy sighed again. And nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard the rap on her door. Assuming her charactaristic nervousness, she stepped up to the door and saw her visitor was Pinkie Pie. The only surviving pony who knew her secret...

...

"So how've you been?" Pinkie exclaimed as she stepped into the front room, bouncing on her hooves as usual, her curls swaying above her head. She stopped to hug Fluttershy briefly, and Fluttershy's memory of the very serious Pinkie a few days ago seemed completely unbelievable. She seemed so unaffected by the new murders occurring...

"Been fine..." Fluttershy replied quietly, "Why do you ask?"

"Well," Pinkie said, "I just wanted to come in and say hello! You've barely been to town! Well...as yourself, you know." she said knowingly.

Fluttershy blinked, "As myself?" she echoed.

Pinkie nodded hard, "Yup. You're being too suspicious. And relieving too often." And by "relieving," Fluttershy knew she meant, "killing."

"Too often?" Fluttershy murmured.

Pinkie nodded again, calming a little, "Yes. They've already predicted your actions. And you haven't really gone into town except to visit Applejack and Twilight, but nopony really knows you've gone out." She fell into a quiet thoughtfulness, "Though it's not wierd for you, I guess, especially now with everypony scared witless. Maybe you should lay off for a while. Confuse 'em a little..." She laughed a bit, lightening the mood.

Fluttershy only nodded.

"And when you have to be relieved again," Pinkie went on, "Try another pony who isn't well known. Who won't be missed immediately." she said.

This time, Fluttershy blinked wonderingly, "Um, Pinkie..." she started, "How come you...know how to do this stuff? Like...you seem to know exactly how to operate and..." she paused, "...Pinkie...have you, um...killed before?"

Pinkie frowned, shrugging, "Sure, I guess."

Fluttershy blinked, "How come nopony noticed? And who did you..."

Pinkie interrupted, "Well, you know...they weren't even from Ponyville. I guess it all started with that gryphon..."

"Gilda...?" Fluttershy confirmed.

Pinkie nodded, frowning, "Yep. I mean...she was super mean, and nopony really liked her so when she was going out of town I kind of..."

"What?" Fluttershy murmured,

"I mean, I stopped her and told her we were sorry, and she didn't wanna listen, so I...you know." She giggled a bit, "Details aren't important right now. Nopony knows she's gone, or may care." She smiled from ear-to-ear.

Fluttershy nodded slowly. Suddenly her vision clouded. Her throat felt tight.

She blinked in terror as her breathing became slight, and felt the sensation of having her head pulled opposite of her body, as if it were going to be yanked off...

"Fluttershy?"

Pinkie's voice broke the vision.

Fluttershy shook her head, "It's okay." she murmured.

Pinkie put her head to one side, "You sure?" she asked.

Fluttershy nodded, "I um, want to go to bed now..." she said, eyeing the setting sun outside.

Pinkie nodded again, "Okie-dokie-lokie! I'll see you tommorrow then!" she said cheerfully, bouncing toward the door, which she flung open. She paused in the doorway, "Remember what I said, Fluttershy." she murmured with a very un-Pinkie Pie-like calmness.

Then she was gone.


	6. Chapter 6: UpdatesD:

Meh.

It's been months, hasn't it?

Sorry about this hugeass hiatus I was on. Lack of motivation to write fanfics, couldn't get on my account for a while because computers are jackasses…meh.

I'm not even going to ask if you guys want this to continue because I know you do. I guess I'll try to finish it. My motivation has been…all over the place. XD

So yeah, just to let you know I haven't completely died. I'll see if I can get a new chapter up soon. :P


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